Conversion committee begins search for harmonious solution

JERUSALEM, June 30 (JTA) — The committee named to find a compromise on Jewish conversion has begun its awesome task. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaking at the opening of the committee’s first meeting Monday, urged the sides to demonstrate tolerance and flexibility in trying to find a solution. The premier “gave us his hearty blessing,” said Uri Regev, director of the Israel Religious Action Center and the Reform movement’s representative on the seven-member committee. The Conservative representative is Rabbi Reuven Hammer, who is head of the Masorti rabbinic court for conversions. The other five members, including the committee’s chair, former Justice Minister Ya’acov Ne’eman, are Orthodox. The committee was created as part of a compromise negotiated between the Israeli government and Reform and Conservative movements to find a consensus on the conversion issue. The conversion crisis erupted a year ago after religious political parties secured a commitment from newly elected Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to seek legislation that would set into law the Orthodox establishment’s sole authority over Jewish conversions conducted in Israel. After the Knesset passed the first reading of the bill in April, Reform and Conservative Jews, both in Israel and the United States, went to work vigorously opposing the measure, saying that it would delegitimize the non-Orthodox movements. The agreement to establish the interdenominational committee came after more than two months of talks between coalition representatives and Reform and Conservative leaders, including last-minute marathon talks that involved Netanyahu himself. As part of the compromise, the coalition agreed to suspend legislative work on the bill and the Reform and Conservative movements agreed to suspend litigation pending before Israel’s High Court of Justice. The committee, which is expected to meet daily beginning next week, was given until Aug. 15 to develop recommendations. If the coalition, which includes the 23 Knesset members from the religious parties, adopts the recommendations, the Knesset would likely pass legislation in September. The public is being invited to submit proposals for the committee’s consideration within the next two weeks. The other Orthodox members of the committee are: * Rabbi Haim Drukman, a former National Religious Party Knesset member who heads the conversion panels under the auspices of the Chief Rabbinate; * Rabbi Simcha Meron, former director of the rabbinic courts; * Dov Frimer, a lawyer; * Ariel Weiss, an American immigrant who works with the Rothschild Foundation.